U.S. Patent Publication No. 20020071067, of Yoshitoshi, for Blacklight and; liquid crystal display apparatus using the same, published Jun. 13, 2002, discloses a scannable barcode display and methods for using the same, however, the reference does not disclose the use of a CCD camera as a dual use device on a cell phone, nor does it provide for the use of scanned data as intrinsic to the use and function of the cell phone.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 20010051915, of Ueno et al., for Data transfer system using mobile terminal and two-dimensional barcode, published Dec. 13, 2001, discloses a data transfer system using a mobile terminal and a two-dimensional barcode, and more particularly, a processing system, server, processing terminal, and communications terminal that can be used to pay for purchases and manage membership cards and admission tickets, and other services, however, the reference does not disclose the use of a CCD camera as a dual use device on a cell phone, nor does it provide for the use of scanned data as intrinsic to the use and function of the cell phone.
WO0227593, of Shin et al., for integrated customer management system and method using wireless barcode, priority date Sep. 29, 2000, discloses an invention that relates to a customer management system and method using LCD barcode displayed on mobile terminal, however, the reference does not disclose the use of a CCD camera as a dual use device on a cell phone, nor does it provide for the use of scanned data as intrinsic to the use and function of the cell phone.
EP0537522, of Fernböck, for Apparatus and method for collecting, possibly processing, storing and transmitting all kinds of data, priority date Apr. 21, 1993, describes an apparatus and method for collecting and manipulation data, wherein the collection terminal is housed in a unitary structure, however, the reference does not disclose the use of a CCD camera as a dual use device on a cell phone, nor does it provide for the use of scanned data as intrinsic to the use and function of the cell phone.
WO0157811, of Doherty et al., for Data Handling, priority date Feb. 2, 2000, describes a data handling device in the form of a mobile phone and a scanner of some unspecified type, including a RF connection between phone and mobile system which provides the ability to store scanned data at phone and forward to mobile system, however, the reference does not disclose the use of a CCD camera as a dual use device on a cell phone, nor does it provide for the use of scanned data as intrinsic to the use and function of the cell phone.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 20010044324 of Carayiannic et al., for Cellular Telephone, filed Dec. 8, 2000, describes a cell phone inputting an encoded business card, but does not disclose phone-to-phone information exchange.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,412,689, to Horiguchi et al., for Communication equipment and method for business card information interchange, granted Jul. 2, 2002, describes a capture mechanism, however, the reference does not disclose the use of graphical patterns for exchanging information optically.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,311,214, to Rhoads, for Linking of computers based on optical sensing of digital data, granted Oct. 30, 2001, describes a system wherein a printed object is encoded with plural-bit data. When such an object is presented to an optical sensor, the plural-bit data is decoded and used to establish a link to an internet address corresponding to that object, however, the reference does not disclose phone-to-phone information exchange.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,041,374, to Postman et al., for PCMCIA interface card for coupling input devices such as barcode scanning engines to personal digital assistants and palmtop computers, granted Mar. 21, 2000, describes the provision of a scanning mechanism which may be linked to a PDA or computer.